


The King's Reward

by the5leggedCricket



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crack, Episode Related, Episode: s01e01 Dragon's Call, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-27
Updated: 2016-04-27
Packaged: 2018-06-04 21:32:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6676162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the5leggedCricket/pseuds/the5leggedCricket
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Uther rewards Merlin for saving Arthur's life by sacrificing him to the Great Dragon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The King's Reward

**Author's Note:**

> This is just something silly. I don't even know, man. I'm trash.

Merlin and Arthur both got up, pointedly not helping each other upright. It wasn’t because Merlin had saved his life that they all of a sudden _liked_ each other.  
  
The king stepped forward and, when he saw that Arthur had not a scratch on him, he turned towards Merlin with a scarily friendly smile.  
  
“You saved my son!”  
  
Merlin opened his mouth. “Well…”  
  
Arthur poked him in the ribs. Uther continued. “That deserves a reward.”  
  
Merlin knew little about Uther, but he thought that his idea of a reward might be something horrendous like making him Arthur’s manservant. So he said more vehemently, “Well…”  
  
Arthur poked him even harder. Uther carried on obliviously. “You shall be this year’s male sacrifice to the Great Dragon!”  
  
Merlin’s mouth dropped open. There was no Arthur poking him in the ribs this time, but still he was unable to produce any sound whatsoever. He was too busy processing the words.  
  
So, of course, Arthur exclaimed, “ _What?_ Father, you can’t do this! He’s a hero! And look at him, he’s got barely any meat on his bones. He’s more like an appetizer than a proper meal for a dragon.”  
  
Merlin nodded enthusiastically before glaring. Prat.  
  
“Exactly, he’s a hero,” even the king agreed. “That’s why he would be such a worthy sacrifice. Or would you risk giving the dragon someone unworthy and unleashing his wrath?” He said the last with a dangerous glint in his eyes, his voice having lowered an octave. “And as for him being too skinny--”  
  
“I’m not a hero,” Merlin ill-advisedly interrupted Uther. Merlin shook his head vigorously. “I’m not a hero. I’m a sorcerer, I have magic!”  
  
Merlin could have sworn he heard Gaius groan and whisper, “Idiot!” from somewhere behind him. He ignored it. From where Merlin was standing, the pyre seemed like a better option than a dragon. If he was going to die, he should have a say in the exact manner of death.  
  
Arthur poked him, again. He seemed intent on killing Merlin through poking him in the stomach before Uther could get his hands on Merlin.  
  
“Well,” Uther said, his voice even lower than before, and Merlin vaguely wondered if there was a limit to how low he could go. “We shall pick the purest maiden in the kingdom as the female sacrifice. That should make up for it.”  
  
°°°

Apparently, the purest maiden in the kingdom was to be found amongst the kitchen staff. Merlin was suspicious of the fact that they had found their female sacrifice in less than three days. Hardly enough time to inspect all the maidens in the castle, let alone in the whole kingdom.  
  
Katherine was put in the same cell as Merlin, and they told Merlin explicitly not to taint her virtue in any way. The knights shackled him to the wall for good measure.  
  
Katherine took one look at him, huffed, and made herself comfortable as far away from him as possible.  
  
Her derision and courage dwindled somewhat when the next day, they were let down to the caves underneath the castle by ten knights. The king and his advisors followed, but when Merlin and Katherine descended from the last steps and were pushed towards the ledge, they all stayed behind. Uther’s head peaked from behind the last bit of rock between him and the vastness of the cave and bellowed,  
  
“Oh Great Dragon, here is your yearly sacrifice, Merlin the peasant and Katherine the kitchen maid. Enjoy and that it may appease you!”  
  
He practically fled from the scene. They took all the torches with them, and Merlin and Katherine were left behind, peering into the dark.  
  
Katherine sniffled and huddled closer to Merlin. Merlin shrugged.  
  
“Well…” he said, and grinned when there was no poke to interrupt him. “I’m a sorcerer.”  
  
His eyes flashed and the ropes fell away from his hands. His eyes flashed again and several lights appeared along the walls.  
  
Katherine scraped her throat and held up her hands pointedly.  
  
“Oh, right.”  
  
With another flash of gold, the ropes slithered away from Katherine’s wrists as well. She immediately wiped her cheeks angrily and put her hands on her hips. “Isn’t there supposed to be a dragon here?”  
  
A chain appeared from somewhere above them, and attached to it was a dragon’s foot. The chains rattled and kept lowering until there was a whole dragon filling their view.  
  
“Everything shall happen in its own time,” the dragon boomed.  
  
They both gasped and put more distance between themselves and the dragon.  
  
Merlin put up his hand and made his eyes burn golden. “Don’t try to kill us. I will fight you.”  
  
The dragon chuckled then. It made the earth tremble beneath their feet.  
  
“Ah, young warlock. You must pick your battles. Yes, you are destined for great battles indeed, but not this one.”  
  
Merlin lowered his hand a little. He squinted at the dragon. “Young warlock?”  
  
“You are young in so many ways. Your future has yet to begin.”  
  
Katherine took a step forward and snorted. “What future? Our future of travelling through your digestive system?”  
  
The dragon tore his eyes off Merlin and beheld her. “Why should I eat you?”  
  
Katherine, courageous now that the dragon had thoroughly underwhelmed her by not killing them instantly, pointed first at herself and then at Merlin. “Yearly sacrifices?”  
  
Merlin dropped his hand and crossed his arms. “Yeah, what about that?” He figured that if the dragon really wanted to kill them, there would indeed be little they could do to stop them. He hadn’t even raised an eyebrow at Merlin’s magic. Not that he _had_ eyebrows.  
  
The dragon sighed deeply and a small flame escaped. Merlin jumped a little, but when Katherine remained where she was and the dragon looked contrite, he relaxed again.  
  
“That was a small...misunderstanding.”  
  
Merlin expected him to continue, but nothing followed. Katherine tapped her foot. Merlin raised an eyebrow. The dragon settled himself more comfortably on his rock.  
  
“Uther has heard too many bards’ tales about Greek mythology. He figured that in order to keep me from escaping, he should keep me happy and sacrifice one boy and one girl each year. I decided to play along with it.”  
  
“By _eating_ innocent people?” Katherine yelled, shaking an angry fist in the dragon’s direction.  
  
The dragon pushed himself up and leant forward, teeth dangerously close to Katherine’s face. “Do not use that tone on me, maiden of the kitchens! I could just eat you now.”  
  
Merlin lifted his hands in an appeasing gesture. “No offense, but what _did_ happen to the other people, though? _Did_ you eat them?”  
  
“Some of them.”  
  
Merlin gulped. “And what about the others?”  
  
“They died.”  
  
A shout sounded from somewhere deep in the caves. “Stop pretending we’re dead!”  
  
“So why can we still hear their voices?” Katherine asked.  
  
The dragon glared at her, but she had been scared by him for the last time. She sat down. Merlin joined her on the ground.  
  
“They died according to Uther and the rest of Camelot. I’ve got a reputation to uphold.”  
  
“So why not eat them for real?” Merlin wondered aloud.  
  
“Do you _want_ me to eat you?” the dragon asked. Merlin didn’t deign to answer that. “A dragon gets lonely. Especially the last dragon alive. Their companionship was more worth to me than their taste,” he said haughtily.  
  
“I regret that every day,” the same voice shouted from afar. “I have died ten times over from boredom!”  
  
“Anyway,” the dragon carried on, ignoring the man, “I needed them to spy on the castle for me. I was waiting for your arrival, young warlock.”  
  
“For me?” Merlin pointed at himself to be entirely clear whom they were talking about.  
  
The dragon smiled smugly. “Yes. You and Arthur are destined for great things together. Because he is the Once and Future King and you are”--he held his breath and let silence reign for a full five seconds, just for dramatic effect, Merlin was sure--” _Emrys_ ."  
  
Someone, somewhere, groaned very loudly.

**Author's Note:**

> Spot the memes. :p


End file.
